Drunkenness costs Enfield £150,000 a year

In a Freedom of Information request by the London Conservative group to the London Ambulance service, figures show that callouts to drunkenness in Enfield have cost the borough £146,000 in the last 12 months.

The statistics also reveal 632 callouts were made during this time.

In comparison to the other boroughs of London, Enfield ranks at 26th out of 33.

Neighbouring Haringey came in eleventh, clocking up 1,035 callouts at a cost of £240,000.

The worst affected borough was Westminster with a callout bill for £891,000 for 3,481 callouts.

Sutton came in as the cheapest borough for drunkenness at £90,000 for just 391 incidents.

Paul Gates, deputy director of operations for Enfield, said: “The number of alcohol-related 999 incidents in Enfield is a concern.

“If our staff are dealing with patients who are simply drunk, they won’t be able to take care of patients with life-threatening emergencies, for example people suffering a cardiac arrest or those with serious injuries.

“We’re not against people having a good time but think about the consequences of excessive drinking on your health. Drinking too much can put you at risk, impair your judgement, affect the quality of sleep you get and, in the longer term, it can lead to serious illnesses like liver or heart disease.”

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